Light a Fire
by aynihstnawi69
Summary: A failed trip to LA is the first in a line of events that lead to an eventual relationship between Die and Shinya. I'm sorry if this isn't any good, as it is the first I've ever written, it probably sucks. Please read and review!


"Sir, your girlfriend will have to get in her own seat and buckle up." The American stewardess said in faltering Japanese.  
  
Toshiya smirked at Kaoru, slipping off his lap and into the seat next to him. Kaoru smiled back, it was always funny when Toshiya was mistaken for a girl.  
  
"That's not a girl." Shinya said from his seat next to Toshiya's. His friends, all four of them, glared at him for ruining their fun. Shinya just sank low in his seat, gazing out the window. I wanna have fun too, he thought. Whenever someone thinks I'm a girl, they just correct the person, there's no fun with the situation.  
  
"It's not funny when people mistake you for a girl." Die told him, looking over the back of his seat, like he knew what Shinya was thinking.  
  
"Of course not, and who asked you?!" Shinya snapped, making Die flee back into the proper sitting position.  
  
The plane ride was over after what seemed like an infinitely long amount of time. They stepped off the plane and into the bright California sun. No one seemed to know who they were, or even care. Some cast mildly interesting glances in their direction, but that was undoubtedly because of Kyo, who was acting as odd as ever.  
  
Shinya watched, brimming with envy, while his band mates walked casually through the airport. He wished he was able to be like that, but he couldn't. He just sighed and followed them, giving up hope that he would ever have confidence.  
  
When they reached the hotel, Shinya dropped his things, sitting down on a couch with another sigh, not acting like he usually did. "Are you okay?" Kaoru asked him, frowning.  
"Yes, why wouldn't I be?" Shinya asked testily.  
"You just seemed upset about something." Toshiya told him, frowning as well. "We were planning on going to a mall, but if you don't want to..." he trailed off, pouting dissapointedly.  
Shinya sighed yet again. He knew that they wouldn't leave him there alone, and he couldn't stand to see his closest friend looking so dissapointed, so he had no choice. "I can go, if you really want to." He said, and their faces immediately brightened.  
  
Once at the mall, they split up. Shinya started to walk off alone, as Kyo had, but Die caught up with him and followed like a faithful dog. "Don't you wanna go alone?" Shinya asked him.  
  
Die grinned broadly, shaking his head. "I'm shy." He said, making Shinya scowl. "Come on, relax." Die said, putting his hand on the shorter man's shoulder and walking off.  
  
They were in a store, looking at CDs, when a group of teenage boys walked up to Die. "We were wondering why you look so weird, man." One said. "You look so girly."  
  
Shinya heard this, and frowned. He had heard such things many times, and he despised them. Looking up, Shinya attracted the attention of Die. Die looked over, making the boys look as well.  
  
"Die, just ignore them." Shinya said, walking over.  
  
"Dude, it's a dude!" One of the teenagers said, peering at Shinya with wide, almost frightened eyes. "That's sick!"  
  
Die grinned, pulling Shinya close to his side. "You don't think he's pretty?" He asked them. They just stared. "Shin-chan, they don't appreciate your beauty." He told Shinya quietly in Japanese.  
  
Shinya squirmed, trying to get away, but failed to suppress a giggle, which escaped from his throat, further startling the teens. "Leave me alone." Shinya told Die, hiding his smile.  
  
"Yes, leave the woman alone." A large teen said.  
  
"I'm not a woman." Shinya told them, getting annoyed. He hated being called a woman.  
  
The large teen did not listen, he just pressed on with his barrage of insults.  
  
After a few moments, Shinya turned to leave, and then noticed that Die looked extremely angry. "Let's go." Shinya told him in Japanese. "We don't want to get into trouble, do we?" He asked.  
  
Die shook his head. "Iie." He said quietly, but still looked angry. The teen made some comment about running away, and Die frowned. "I am not running away from you." He told the boy in English, broken though it was. "I am running away for you, so that I don't hurt you." He said, frowning. "I am probably ten years older than you, and much wiser in the ways of fighting."  
"I could take you." The large one said, stepping up to Die. He was taller than Die, and seemed to be stronger. "No sweat."  
Die bristled at the challenge. Shinya grabbed his arm and pulled him out of the store. "Come on, let's go." He muttered in Japanese. Die let himself be pulled along, and started to lose some of the tension as they reached a bench in the middle of the mall.  
"Hey! Chicken!" One of the teens said loudly as the group walked to where they stood.  
"I'm gonna show you what it's like in America, Chink." The large one.  
Die looked at Shinya, unsure of what the racial slur meant. "It's a rude term for a Chinese person." Shinya told him in Japanese, not wanting the teens to know that Die didn't know what it meant.  
"I'm not Chinese, I'm Japanese." He told the boys. "You should get the nationality right the next time you try to insult someone."  
"Well, I--I don't care what you are, shut up, and I'll kick your ass!" The teen yelled, and threw a punch at Die.  
Die dodged the punch, grabbing the boy's arm. "That's not a wise thing to do." He said, but the boy got away, as Die wasn't holding his arm hard enough to hurt him.  
More punches were thrown as Shinya watched nervously. One of the other boys went to join in the fight, ganging up on Die, but Shinya grabbed the boy's arm with a strong hand, surprising the boys with his strength. "Don't." Shinya told them, scowling. He let go of the boy, who stood, watching, just as helpless as Shinya was.  
"Shin-chan!" Toshiya exclaimed as he and Kaoru walked up. "What's going on?" He asked.  
"Totchi! Kaoru!" Shinya exclaimed. "Die's in a fight with some boy that was harassing us!" He told them, his voice showing how nervous he was.  
"Why did he pick a fight?" Kaoru said, looking angry.  
"Oh, you know Die, and besides, the boy threw the first punch!" Shinya said, watching the fight nervously. Die was trying to dodge the punches and stop the fight without hurting the boy.  
A crowd was starting to form around them, people were muttering to each other and watching with interest. A shout was heard, and someone started loudly cheering Die on. "Kyo!" Kaoru yelled angrily. "Be quiet and get over here now!"  
Kyo stopped his catcalls, smiling guiltily as he walked over to them. "Why can't I cheer for Die?" He asked.  
"Because we need to stop him, not cheer for him." Shinya told him. He shook his head and looked back at Kaoru.  
The leader of their band was thinking. He bit his bottom lip, looking at where Die was continuing to dodge the punches. Before he got a chance to do anything, security guards came and separated them. The boy fought against the guards, but Die just stopped moving, looking at where his friends were. His face was bloody as he wiped his mouth.  
The guards told the crowds to move on, but the four of them stayed when one told them to leave. "We're with him." Kyo told the guard, smiling. "We're vacationing here from Tokyo."  
"And is it usual for you to get into fights with teenage boys?" The security guard asked, frowning.  
Kyo's smile vanished. Toshiya looked surprised, and Kaoru frowned. "You don't know what happened!" Shinya told the guard, surprising everyone. "Die didn't do anything, now leave him alone!"  
  
"No!" Shinya shrieked. "Leave me alone!" He yelled. "Get off of me, now!" He said, trying to push his friend away. Toshiya just kept on tickling him, ignoring his shouts. "Totchi, no!" Shinya yelled, trying to get away but being unsuccessful. "Okay, okay!" He told him, and Toshiya stopped, smiling still. "I-I like Die." Shinya said quietly.  
"What?" Toshiya asked, surprised. That was not what he had expected when he had asked why Shinya had been acting oddly.  
"But you always seem to be so annoyed at him..."  
"I know. But--I just--well, he does little things that are so sweet, like the fight today. It was because of me, Die got hurt because of me, and he said he didn't mind." Shinya said quietly, looking at the floor. "Don't laugh, please." He said.  
"I'm not going to laugh." Toshiya said, smiling at his friend. "You really need more self-confidence." He said, and then gasped excitedly. "I'll teach you!"  
"What?!" Shinya asked, looking terrified.  
"I'll teach you to have confidence!" Toshiya told him. "When we get back home."  
"I don't know..." Shinya started and then trailed off.  
"It'll be okay." Toshiya told him. "Everything will be okay. Just pay attention to Totchi-san." He said, smiling the same mischievous smile, and ran off to see how Kaoru was doing with the airport.  
  
The next morning, Shinya was in the bathroom styling his hair when Die came and leaned against the doorframe. Shinya admired him out of the corner of his eye. He's so hot. Shinya though, pretending not to notice him. He could never like a weakling like me.  
"Hey." Die said casually, watching him.  
Shinya pouted. "I wanna go home." He said quietly with a sigh. "I hate it here."  
"Well, Kaoru told me that we might be able to get a plane home tonight, maybe even sooner than that." Die said, and then his face cracked into a grin. "I'm sure we'll have time to go to the mall today." He said, and jumped as Shinya started yelling at him. "Sorry!" Die exclaimed. "I was just joking, relax! Hey, they though you were a woman, I'm the one they attacked." He smiled. "You're just so pretty, that's why."  
Shinya tried not to let the compliment get to him, he tried to stay angry, but he failed miserably. His anger vanished a split second after he heard the word "pretty", and he couldn't, no matter how hard he tried, get it back. "I'm not pretty." He mumbled.  
"Oh, Shin-chan, stop being so self-deprecating." Die told him. "You never listen to anyone when the compliment you, except for Totchi...and he's too egotistical to tell you you're prettier than him, which you are." Die said, and started walking away. "I'm going out for a smoke." He called over his shoulder, and vanished.  
Shinya stood there gaping, shocked. Die had just said that he was prettier than Toshiya! It seemed unbelievable. Die always insulted and teased Shinya, he usually didn't compliment him, especially saying he was better than anyone at anything!  
  
Later that day, they stepped on a plane for the second time in two days. Shinya groaned as they were forced to hear Kyo complaining. He had been complaining since Kaoru had announced that they were going back. "I wanna stay here, I don't wanna go back home just yet! Who cares if Die got in a fight, why does that have to ruin our fun?" He yelled.  
Kaoru just continued pushing Kyo ahead as the other people on the plane stared at them. When the complaints did not cease, Shinya lost it. "Kyo! Shut the hell up!" Shinya yelled at him, turning around. "If you don't shut up, I'll make you!"  
Kyo fell silent in his disbelief. Shinya never yelled, especially at him. "What?" He asked Shinya as they all stood there, staring at him.  
Shinya turned red. "Nothing." He muttered, walking to his seat and sitting in it, closing his eyes and ignoring them.  
Toshiya frowned, sitting next to Shinya. He tried to get Shinya to look at him, but failed. Sighing, he turned back to where Kaoru was, smiling and starting to chatter happily.  
Shinya watched out of the corner of his eye, and sighed almost inaudibly. He wanted to have a boyfriend too, he wanted to be able to chatter happily and be himself around someone. It always seemed that he was alone, that no one cared about him. He never felt like he had anyone that he could talk to, and he hated it. Shinya shrugged and closed his eyes, trying to fall asleep.  
He was awoken about an hour later by someone tapping him gently on the shoulder. He looked next to him and saw Die sitting there. Toshiya was on Kaoru's lap again, they both seemed to be asleep, and Kyo, sitting in front of Shinya, was snoring contentedly. "What do you want?" Shinya asked Die testily. "I was asleep."  
"I know." Die told him quietly. His face was serious for a change. "I just wanted to know--well, I wanted to know if you hate me." He said.  
Shinya looked at him, surprised. "Are you serious?" He asked, and Die nodded. "No, I don't hate you." He said. "I just--I just dislike the way you act." He told him.  
Die sighed. "I was afraid of that." He said quietly. "I knew that's what you'd say."  
"Why do you care now?" Shinya asked him. "You never cared before."  
Die shrugged. "I just realized that I'm awfully mean to you without cause, and I'm sorry." He told him.  
"What?!" Shinya asked, shocked.  
"I'm sorry, Shin-chan." Die said, frowning. "I should have been nicer to you." He told him.  
Shinya just stared for a moment, and then looked at the floor. "Well, you don't need to be sorry." He said, feeling bad that Die was apologizing. "I'm sorry if I haven't been nice to you."  
Die smiled. "Shin-chan, I think it's impossible for you to not be nice." He told him. "You never insult people, you never talk about people behind their backs, you're just sweet, gentle Shin-chan."  
Shinya frowned. "I'm not as gentle as you think." He muttered.  
"What?" Die asked, not hearing what he had said.  
"Nothing." Shinya said quietly, smiling at Die. "I didn't say anything." He told him. If only he knew how rough I could be, Shinya thought. He'd want to go out with me for sure!  
"Well, I should get back to my seat." Die said slowly. He smiled at Shinya. "Go back to sleep." He said, and got up, returning to his seat next to Kyo.  
Shinya watched the back of his head for a while, leaning back in his seat, eventually falling asleep while thinking about Die.  
  
Shinya awoke slowly, rubbing sleepiness from his eyes. He sat up, his eyes squinting against the bright sunlight that was streaming through his windows. He looked at the clock, groaning. He hated having to wake up early to go to the studio. The phone rang, and he answered it. "Moshi moshi." He muttered, his voice betraying his tiredness.  
"Moshi moshi!" A bright voice replied. "You'd better hurry if you plan on getting here on time!"  
"Totchi, it's too early." Shinya told him.  
Toshiya laughed. "Will you get here quicker if I tell you Die's here?" He asked.  
"Is he?" Shinya asked, sitting up straight, his eyes open.  
"Maybe." Toshiya said, giggling. "Get here and find out!"  
"Totchi!" Shinya yelled as Toshiya hung up the phone.  
  
Shinya walked into the rest room in the studio. He scowled, seeing his bandmates all cheerfully sitting on a couch. "Why are you so dead? It's like you're hungover." Die said, making Kyo and Kaoru laugh.  
"And why is that so funny?" Shinya asked them testily.  
"Because you don't drink." Die told him, laughing. "You don't do anything wild."  
Shinya stuck his tongue out. "Maybe I had a girl at my apartment last night." He told him. "Or better yet, a guy." He said.  
They looked surprised that Shinya had said such a thing. A month earlier, Shinya would never had suggested that he would do anything with a girl or a guy. "Are you feeling okay?" Kaoru asked him. "You sick?"  
"I'm fine." Shinya said. "Why?" He asked.  
"Well, since the brief and disasterous trip to LA, you haven't been acting like yourself." Kyo told him. Even Die was serious for a change, looking at Shinya, the expression on his face concerned.  
Shinya looked at Toshiya. His friend had been helping him gain confidence. "Don't look at me, you've changed yourself, I didn't change you." He said.  
"What did you do, Totchi?" Kaoru asked him.  
"Oh, nothing, Kao-sama." Toshiya said, smiling. "Just trying to help Shin-chan stop being so rediculously shy." He told them.  
Shinya looked at the floor. All the attention was on him, and he hated it. He felt their eyes on him, and looked up. "Are we gonna start now? I don't want to have gotten up for nothing." He said, and walked off, surprising them further.  
  
That night, the phone woke Shinya up. "Moshi moshi." He muttered, his voice choked with sleep.  
"Hey." Die's voice said loudly. Sounds of a lot of people could be heard in the background. "Listen, Shin-chan, can you come pick me up?" He asked. "I'm at a bar."  
From the slurred words and background noise, Shinya figured that Die was drunk. He agreed to go get him, and hung up the phone. "There's a shocker." Shinya said aloud to himself. "Die's drunk and wants me to go get him."  
Shinya went and got him, though, and took him back to his apartment. He somehow managed to get him upstairs and into the living room, where he dropped him on the couch. Thouroughly exhausted, Shinya collapsed on his bed, sleeping soundly.  
The next morning, Shinya walked out of his room to find that Die wasn't on the couch, and to hear noises from the kitchen. He rushed to the kitchen to find Die making breakfast. "What are you doing?" He asked, exhasperated.  
"Making you some food, you need it, you're too thin." Die told him, getting a cup of coffee for his friend. "I owe you big time for last night." He grinned. "I can hardly remember what happened."  
Shinya just sighed, sitting down and drinking his coffee. "Why do you go out and get drunk?" He asked.  
Die shrugged. "To meet new people, have a good time. It beats sitting home alone doing nothing."  
"What if you--what if you had someone to stay home with?" Shinya asked slyly.  
Die thought for a moment. "I don't know. I would probably stay home then, but who would want to stay home with me?" He asked.  
Shinya shrugged. "I don't know." He said quietly, going over and inspecting the breakfast Die was cooking. He turned, pouting cutely, to Die. "Don't you wish you had someone?"  
Die shrugged again. "I suppose so. Who doesn't want someone?"  
Shinya sighed. "Who do you want?" He asked, looking at Die adorably (though that's not hard for Shinya).  
Die looked at Shinya, noticing how close they now were. He smiled. "You." He said, his voice husky. He kissed Shinya gently.  
Shinya smiled up at him, a blush creeping to his face. "I--I was hoping you'd say that." He said, and before he knew what he was doing, he kissed Die.  
It would have progressed further than mere kisses, had it not been for the hand towel that was sitting on the stove. Shinya put his hand down on the stove, pushing it accidently so it was on the burner. Shinya felt warm and knew that it was not just because of Die. He pulled away, puzzled, and let out a yell, staring at the flames that were consuming his stove and oven.  
Die yelled too and ran, getting a fire extinguisher and putting the fire out. Smoke alarms started going off, and they heard people in the halls, wondering what was going on. Shinya fell against Die, breathing heavy from the excitement. They stood there for a while, but after about five minutes, the door burst open and firemen walked in. "Is everything okay?" One asked them.  
Shinya glanced down at his shorts and tee shirt, putting his hand to his messy hair. "Yes, everything's fine." He told them. "A--a towel on the stove caught fire." He explained, stepping away from Die.  
"Are you sure everything's fine? Do you need any help?" The fireman asked.  
Shinya nodded. "Everything's fine." He told him. "It's all under control, we just need to clean up the mess."  
"You could help clean up." Die told them, grinning. "You could make breakfast for us, since ours is now too charred to even attempt to eat."  
The firemen left after a few more minutes, and after they had gone, Shinya collapsed against Die again. "I've been up for not even an hour and there's already been too much excitement for a week." He told him.  
Die grinned. "Well, perhaps we can relax for a bit." He told Shinya, and kissed him. "So, you've been trying to build up your confidence?" He asked, and Shinya nodded. "For me?" He asked, and again, Shinya nodded. Die laughed. "I'll show you one way to build up your confidence." He told him, picking Shinya up and kissing him. Shinya struggled, but Die just ignored the kicks and hits, taking Shinya into the living room and sitting down, leaning back.  
Shinya stopped fighting and did relax, leaning against Die, sitting on his lap. He sighed happily as he sat with his head resting on Die's chest, his eyes drooping as he fell asleep where he had wanted to fall asleep for months, with Die. 


End file.
